An Instrument Can Be Replaced, But A Friend Can't
by GoldGuardian2418
Summary: Sequel to "Spiral Mountain Friendships". When Jamie accidentally breaks Banjo's banjo and the bear gets upset to the point he does something he regrets, the boy is determined to make it right, but will he and Banjo make amends? Done as a request for pokemonsora01. :)


**pokemonsora01, who owns Jamie, asked for this one. Here you go, Amigo! Enjoy! :) **

**Banjo Kazooie belongs to Rare Limited. I only own Rachel. **

**A/N: This story is the sequel to "Spiral Mountain Friendships", which can be found on my page.**

* * *

**An Instrument Can Be Replaced, But A Friend Can't**

It had been a few months since Rachel and Jamie had met Banjo and the gang, but if anyone saw them, they would think that the cousins had been friends with Banjo, Kazooie, Bottles, and Mumbo Jumbo for years. Rachel would often be found with Bottles and Mumbo Jumbo while Jamie would often be found with Banjo, the two become inseperable, almost as inseperable as Banjo and Kazooie.

The bear was not only a good friend to the boy, but had been his inspiration in learning how to play the banjo. He had seen how Banjo played it and had wanted to learn. Rachel, who knew how to play a lot of musical instruments, offered to teach her cousin, who had jumped at the offer and to both their surprises, Jamie had caught on quick, playing the banjo like a pro, but he didn't tell Banjo just yet as he wanted to surprise him sometime with it.

One day, the two were headed towards their friends' home with Jamie carrying his banjo and Rachel carrying her guitar as the boy was planning on playing Banjo's Spiral Mountain song for him and Rachel was going to play back-up on her guitar. They had been practicing for about a month now and while the young boy was excited, he was also nervous. "Rachel, do you think I'll play well enough for Banjo to be proud of me?" He asked.

The older girl smiled at him. "Jamie, you've been practicing faithfully ever since I started giving you banjo lessons," she said reassuringly. "I know you'll do well and Banjo will love it."

As they approached the house, the two hid their instruments nearby so that no one would see them right away. Smiling and practically oozing excitement, the two quickly composed themselves with big smiles on their faces and knocked on the door. "Come in!" They heard a friendly voice say.

Grinning, they entered the house. "Hi, guys!" Rachel said in greeting and Jamie echoed her greeting as they saw Banjo, Kazooie, Bottles and Mumbo. The young boy ran over to the bear, who was practicing on his banjo, smiling as the boy came over to him.

"Hey, Cub," Banjo said, ruffling Jamie's hair in affection while calling him the nickname he had given the boy not long after they had met.

Everyone was enjoying the visit and after a few hours, Banjo went into the kitchen to get a snack for everyone. Jamie felt now was the best time for his best friend's surprise and he leaned close to Rachel. "Can we play the song for Banjo now?" He asked her quietly.

She smiled. "Yes," she replied quietly.

Excited, Jamie ran to go grab their instruments, but as he ran for the door, he tripped and a loud crashing sound filled the house. Everyone jumped and looked to see that Jamie had fallen into and completely broke Banjo's banjo. Rachel jumped up and would have run over to her cousin if Banjo hadn't come running out of the kitchen. "What was that sound?" He asked.

The young boy began panicking as he realized what had happened and as the bear turned to him to see him lying next to the broken banjo. The whole house was quiet as Banjo looked shocked. Jamie quickly got to his feet, feeling terrible. "Banjo, I'm so sorry," he said. "I didn't mean...,"

"You broke my banjo," the bear said, interrupting him as a furious look began to slowly form on his face.

Feeling really bad now, Jamie began stammering. "Banjo, I'm...," he began to apologize again, but the bear cut him off.

"Get out," Banjo said to the boy.

A look of shock came to Jamie's face. "What do you mean?" He asked, fear filling him.

"Get out of my house," Banjo clarified, beginning to growl like a grizzly bear.

Tears filled the boy's eyes. "Banjo, I'm really sorry," he tried to apologize again. "I-It was an accident."

"GET OUT!" The bear roared at him, the roar sounding like one a grizzly bear would make.

Everyone looked shocked at what Banjo had done because they had never seen or heard him roar like that. Rachel clapped her hands to her mouth in shock as she felt frozen in place. Jamie, on the other hand, looked absolutely terrified and tears rolled down his face as he began to cry.

Seeing that seemed to snap Banjo out of his anger and he looked terrified at what he had just done. Slowly, he began approaching the boy. "Jamie, it's okay. I'm not mad," he said, sounding remorseful. "I didn't mean to to do that. I'm sorry."

But Jamie quickly backed away from him and ran out of the house into the pouring rain, not stopping even as the rain fell on him. Banjo ran after him instantly, but tripped and fell onto the wet ground. "Jamie!" He screamed out. "Come back! I'm sorry!"

But the boy didn't even turn around. He just kept running until he was out of sight. Now feeling terrible, Banjo got up and went back inside the house, seeing no one had moved, not even Rachel, who would have normally gone up and given someone who had scared her cousin a piece of her mind, but she was honestly shocked at what she had seen.

Kazooie finally spoke. "Banjo, are you okay?" She asked bravely.

He ignored her, going for his chair and sitting in it, grabbing a photo of him and Jamie. It was one of him with the boy sitting on his shoulders. Clutching the photo, Banjo began silently crying, feeling awful that he had scared Jamie so bad and not listening to him. Deep down, he knew Jamie hadn't meant to break the banjo, but his anger had overrode his logic and he had roared at the boy. More tears fell down his face as he looked absolutely ashamed of himself.

Rachel looked at Bottles, Mumbo, and Kazooie, unsure of what to say, but the breegull gently nudged the girl's shoulder and gestured to Banjo. Understanding, the older girl took a deep breath and looked at the bear, seeing how heartbroken he looked. That, along with him trying to apologize to Jamie, helped her see that the bear truly regretted what he had done. She went over to him and took a careful breath. "Banjo, it really was an accident," she said gently. "Jamie was running to get something outside and he tripped. He couldn't stop his fall in time."

Banjo didn't say anything to her, but his right ear twitched a little, which meant he was listening to her. The girl then saw the rain had let up and she nodded. "I'm going to go look for Jamie," she said quietly, heading for the door, but turning back to see Banjo hadn't moved and was still crying. She felt her heart go out to him. "Banjo, it's okay," she said, going over and placing a hand on his shoulder comfortingly. "Jamie will eventually forgive you."

More tears fell down the bear's face as he shook his head, not believing her as he held the picture closer to him. Rachel took another deep breath, feeling bad for Banjo as she wished she could take away the hurt he felt, but she knew that only by making amends with Jamie would make the hurt Banjo felt go away. She turned to the others. "Watch over him for me," she said to them softly.

They nodded quietly and Bottles looked worried. "Do you think Jamie will be okay?" He asked softly.

Rachel nodded. "He'll be alright," she said. "I'll see if I can encourage him to come back, but it may take a while."

Mumbo looked saddened at that. "Will Jamie forgive Banjo?" He asked her.

"He will," she said reassuringly. "Jamie isn't one to hold grudges. He just needs some time to collect his thoughts. Once he has, he'll come back."

Kazooie looked worried, but nodded, believing Rachel. "Please help Jamie see that Banjo does regret what he did, Rachel," she pleaded.

"I will," the older girl promised the breegull before she headed out, grabbing both her guitar and Jamie's banjo before looking around, seeing Jamie's footprints in the wet and muddy ground. Grateful that there was a trail to follow, she took off in the direction her cousin had gone in.

* * *

Meanwhile, Jamie had run all the way back to Rachel's house and collapsed in the living room, tired from running as he cried harder, believing that he had just lost Banjo as a friend. He heard the door open a little later on and Rachel walked in, setting aside their instruments before going over to him and pulling him into a hug. "Shh, it's okay, Jamie," she soothed, letting her cousin cry into her shoulder.

The boy clung to her as he cried, drawing comfort from the older girl who held him, speaking soothingly to him. After a bit, he finally calmed down and looked up at her, seeing she was worried. "Jamie, you should head back to Banjo's home and talk with him," she said gently.

He nodded. "I want to, but...I have to show him how sorry I am," he said. "But what can I do?"

Rachel fell into thought before she had an idea. "How about giving him something?" She suggested.

Jamie perked up at that suggestion. "I could give him a new banjo," he said, a smile coming to his face as he saw it all in his mind.

The older girl smiled again. "You know, I have an old banjo that needs some work done to it," she said.

"Can I have it?" The boy asked.

She nodded and the boy ran for the music room, finding the old banjo and seeing what Rachel had meant about some work needing to be done on it. She came in with a smile. "Want some help?" She offered.

"Please," he said.

Over the next couple of weeks, with Rachel's help, Jamie fixed up the banjo, replacing the strings, fixing the membraine and the worn-out wood, freshly painting it, and carving Banjo's name along the neck of the instrument. The older girl and young boy looked proudly at the fixed instrument and Rachel nodded. "Good job, Jamie," she said with a smile. "It should be all set in a few days."

"Perfect," he said. "I'll wait for it to set before I check to see how it sounds."

To both their delights, the banjo sounded perfect and they made plans to head over to Banjo's place in a few days.

* * *

The day was sunny and warm as they walked to the house with Jamie carrying both Banjo's and Rachel carrying her guitar. When they arrived, they found everyone except Banjo outside. Mumbo and Bottles looked relieved to see the two, as did Kazooie, who ran up to Jamie and nuzzled her head against his. Smiling, he gently patted her head. "We're glad you're here," she said.

Rachel grew worried. "It's Banjo, isn't it?" She asked, dreading the answer.

Bottles nodded. "He hasn't left the house once and he's hardly spoken to anyone since the day you ran off, Jamie," he said.

"We're worried about him," Mumbo said.

Jamie set aside the two banjos and looked through the window to see Banjo sitting in his blue chair, the same one where he had played his Spiral Mountain song for the boy. Taking a deep breath, Jamie went inside the house, seeing the broken banjo still in the same place it was before as he walked into the living room. He saw the bear was holding a photo of them both and looking like he had just lost his best friend. The boy took another deep breath and nodded to himself. "Banjo," he said.

The bear gasped in surprise and looked up to see the boy standing in just a few feet away from him. He stood up and ran towards the boy before grabbing him into a tight hug, lifting him off the ground. Tears began falling down the bear's face. "Jamie, I'm so sorry," he said, his voice filled with regret.

Jamie felt tears sting his eyes as he began crying too. "I'm sorry too, Banjo," he said, hugging him back, feeling bad that he had waited so long to return as he could see the bear had looked so despondent before he had spoken his name.

It was a bit before they both calmed down and Jamie looked at his friend. "Banjo, I'm really sorry about breaking your banjo," he said. "I tripped and I couldn't stop my fall in time."

Banjo shook his head gently. "I'm the one who should be sorry for getting so angry over a broken instrument," he said before looking at the boy. "Cub, an instrument can be replaced, but a friend can't."

The boy felt better as he knew this meant the bear had forgiven him. "I agree," he said. "And I forgive you too, big guy. And I still want to show you how sorry I am."

Banjo looked curious as the boy gently made him sit back in the chair. "Close your eyes," the boy said to him.

Curious, Banjo did so, listening as the boy headed out, but it sounded like he hadn't gone far.

And in truth he hadn't. Jamie had run outside and grabbed the banjo he had fixed up for the bear and headed back in, gently placing the instrument in his hands.

Banjo opened his eyes and gasped, his jaw dropping at seeing the new banjo with his name carved on it. He was speechless as Jamie looked a bit nervous. "Did...Did I do a good job?" He asked the bear.

Smiling, the bear carefully set the gift down and pulled the boy into another hug. "I love it, Cub," he said. "You didn't have to give me such an amazing gift."

"I wanted to," Jamie said honestly as he returned the hug and they headed outside where the others were. Kazooie, Mumbo, and Bottles all smiled at seeing that the boy and bear had made up and Rachel smiled too, nodding before looking at her cousin.

"Hey, Jamie, didn't you have another gift for Banjo?" She asked, winking at him.

Grinning, the boy ran over to the side of the house and grabbed his banjo and his cousin's guitar, coming back over and handing her the guitar. "Thanks," she said with a smile.

"You play the guitar?" Bottles asked in surprise as Mumbo, Kazooie, and Banjo also looked surprised.

Rachel smiled. "I've played guitar for a long time," she said. "I dabble a bit in each instrument, though the guitar is my favorite." She looked at Banjo. "And Banjo inspired Jamie to learn the banjo."

Surprised, the bear smiled at Jamie, who smiled back and took a deep breath. "I hope you like the song," he said.

With that, the boy began playing his own version of Banjo's Spiral Mountain son with Rachel playing back-up on her guitar. Everyone was amazed as they listened to the song and how the cousin's harmonized perfectly. Towards the end, Rachel nodded to Jamie, gently placing her hand on her guitar strings to stop the sound as the boy added his own little jingle to the end of the song.

When they were done, the four watching them gave the cousins a round of applause with Banjo holding out his arms. Seeing this, Jamie ran up to him for another hug. "You were amazing, Cub," the bear said. "That was better than my song."

"Thanks," the boy said, hugging him back as the two silently promised that nothing would ever hurt their friendship like that again.

Later that night, Banjo placed another photo of him and Jamie next to his old one, this one being of the two posing with their banjos. He smiled again, feeling lucky to have such an amazing friend as Jamie.

* * *

**The version of Spiral Mountain Jamie and Rachel play is a cover done by PPF on You Tube. If you haven't seen it and you love Banjo-Kazooie, then you've got to hear this guy. He's amazing! :) **

**Please leave a review, but no flames! **

**GoldGuardian2418 **


End file.
